A New Order
by HorseLoverTW
Summary: Picks up after TLJ. Rey and rebel company are just trying to make their way in the Galaxy with some porgs along for the ride. Focus will be on Rey and Poe but should incorporate everyone from the sequel trilogy. Maybe even that Solo kid.
1. Chapter 1

**A New Order**

Disclaimer: I don't own anything and I'll admit to playing a little fast and loose with some details. Also, titles will inevitably come from _Firefly_ … which I also do not own.

 **Chapter 1: She'll Fly True**

From her isolated perch, legs tucked beneath her in the quasi-meditative stance Luke had shown her, Rey took in the surrounding chaos. The common area of the Falcon was teeming with more people than she could name on the entire planet of Jakku. Finn and his new friend Rose were on the benches opposite her, their faces close as Rose drifted in and out of consciousness. A neglected Dejarik set stood next to them. Its patterned top looked dusty and was being used as a makeshift table for bandages and bactapads. The ship's incessant rattling knocked one of the bandages off every rotation.

Nearby, a communications officer was sitting listlessly, tightly wound blonde hair looking like small knobs on the top of her bowed head. Leia was talking quietly with several people. The General's eyes were glassy and her grave voice muted, as though she were speaking from an ocean away.

She might as well have been to Rey. They were all adrift and their lifeboat was crumbling.

She had been so relieved to find the resistance still standing and to get them off Crait, but Luke was gone. She had hedged her hopes on the last Jedi and the spark of uncertainty she'd felt from Kylo Ren. Luke's sacrifice felt so hollow now as she looked around at their meager numbers... and her own stupidity all the more pronounced. She'd actually thought she could sway the Supreme Leader's favorite son. Han Solo's son…

She'd been foolish and naive, and it made sense. She was a nobody from a nowhere planet. The only knowledge she'd ever received had been the cold, propagandized encyclopedia flips from the old Holonet device she'd scavenged on Jakku. Nothing she'd ever read had told her how to deal with any of this and over and over, 'why me?' was her constant mantra, her driving force.

If the Force itself chose randomly, then fine, she would make the most of this opportunity. It was destiny. And her parents selling her off like bantha for credits on a junk heap of a planet was all part of the story... but it also meant she was the hope now. The spark. What if this destiny wasn't even her own?

Why her?

It haunted her. She reached out a steadying hand to the cool metal of the Falcon, letting the energy of the ship wash over and around her. The ship was happy. She was full of rebels and her Princess, droids, and children. She saw the stars through the ship's eyes and opened her own, blinking at their absence.

Rey hopped off the ledge and threaded her way to the head of the ship. Finn shot her a questioning look as she passed but she reassured, "No, you stay. I'm fine." And she was. She just didn't know if they'd all be after Kylo Ren found them.

The command deck of the Falcon was as homely as always, but possibly less so with the pilot currently occupying the helm.

"Oh, hey there," Poe Dameron looked up with a small smile when he registered her presence.

She gave a friendly nod back. "Is Chewbacca sleeping?"

Bee beep bee!

The excited little droid confirmed before Poe could open his mouth. They both grinned at BB-8 before Rey gingerly settled herself into the co-pilot's seat beside him. "So what do you think of the Falcon?" She asked, not really sure what else to say to this man who knew so much of her. Making small talk at all felt strange on her tongue, like slogging through sand on the way to Niima. She was more at home with his droid.

He didn't seem to notice however, if his gleeful enthusiasm was any clue. "She's a bit rough around the edges but the real deal in every way that counts. I can't believe I'm getting to actually fly her!" He nearly whooped the last part like a child.

"It must have been hard for Chewbacca to hand over the controls to anyone. How'd you manage?"

He chuckled. "Yea, he didn't seem pleased but he was so tired he was almost falling over and Leia vouched for me."

Leia did seem rather fond of Poe, which was strange considering what she'd overheard him getting up to recently. _Then again,_ she glanced at his chiseled jaw and he flashed her an easy smile before she quickly looked back out towards the stars ahead of them, _he's quite the charmer._ It made her slightly uncomfortable; her lack of expertise in this regard making her more self-conscious than she had any reason to be.

"So where are we headed?" Her abruptness caused a baby porg to wake up. Its nest was beneath the control panel and when it noticed its mother and siblings gone to forage- the Force only knew for what- its large liquid eyes swelled with tears. Rey picked it up and soothed its flailing limbs by slowly rocking it back and forth and letting its large vision take in the sight of the stars rushing towards them like a waterfall.

"Home," he finally replied. At her silence, he continued, "The moon of Yavin 4 was a rebel base long ago. General Organa believes it's been abandoned long enough that we might find a brief reprieve before Snooki and his stooges find us."

"Snoke is dead."

A beat and then, "Huh..."

"No, it wasn't me."

His eyebrows shot up past his hairline. "Were you just doing that Jedi mind thing?!"

Almost foreign sounding, a giggle erupted from somewhere inside her. "I don't have very good control over that stuff yet but I wouldn't have needed it. The question was all over your face."

"Oh," he grinned, rubbing the back of his reddening neck. "Well, that certainly changes things. I assume Leia already knows?" She nodded. "So who's in charge of the First Order now?"

"Kylo Ren," she said softly, unconsciously running her fingers through the chick's soft down. She ruffled its head feathers when the baby porg cooed adorably and relaxed into her touch.

Poe laughed, surprising her. "That twippy brat? We might not need to lift a finger. He'll run the First Order into the ground all on his own!"

"I don't know about that," she said, remembering Ben Solo's sad eyes and his calculating mutiny to save her. The way they'd fought together so perfectly. Everything tinged in shades of red.

Poe was staring quizzically at her when she finally looked up.

"What?" she asked, her arms crossing.

He gave an annoying little grin before shaking his head. "You like him."

She knew her mouth probably resembled a fish, but the only noise that could escape her throat was a strangled, "Quwaaa?!"

"I didn't ask... but you're like fifteen, right?"

She glared at him. "I know what you're implying and no, I don't _like_ him as you say. But the Force has connected us. I know how things look from his perspective. He feels trapped and alone."

"Seems like a good reason to murder whoever he wants."

With no knowledge of the Force, it would be hard to explain to the pilot exactly how tightly wound her fate was with the General's son. So instead, she carefully began, "He wanted to build a new world. No more Jedi or Sith, Resistance or First Order. I believe he was genuine but I also know he's not the only threat." _I'm not just some backplanet trash._ "General Hux is there, hoping he'll stumble and there are many other commanders eager to take over if either of them fall. If we're to win, we need to look beyond killing their leader and instead, kill their support, their wealth, and their fight."

Poe looked impressed. "I agree _kid_." He winked at her and she knew he was teasing but she couldn't help roll her eyes.

"I'm twenty-two and can force blast you into space." She put the porg in his lap and reached over to toggle the stabilizer next to his hand. The ship's rattling ceased and a cheer rose from the common area behind them. "Maybe don't call me a kid, _old man_."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I really don't own anything. Except the space rot that fills my brain.

Author's note: {} = my lame attempt at some kind of flashback scenario. Also, yes, this will be my vision for Episode IX. Aspects from the pre-Disney expanded universe may be incorporated. Eventually.

 **Chapter 2** **:** **A Darkness Blacker than the Space it Moves Through**

"I have a bad feeling about this."

"It was your idea," Poe reminded her.

"Yes, well, it's bad."

Rey and Poe stood small on top of an enormous hovering platform. It was boldly decorated with the unmistakable orange of the Resistance insignia all along its sides. An oversized Resistance banner rippled in the wind behind them as well, its amber Phoenix triumphantly emerging from the ashes.

Finn, Rose, and several of the others who had survived the Battle of Crait were standing uneasily beside them. They were all waving in various stages of discomfiture to the throngs of parade-goers lining the sides of the avenue their platform crawled along. Leia was the one exception, her regal bearing showing how perfectly at home she was in the public's eye. But Rey, much closer than the Yavinese, saw the General's eye twitch, noticed the tightness in her long-perfected smiles. The monstrous shadow of the ancient Temple of Massassi loomed ahead, the avenue's climatic destination. The Princess's gaze would occasionally flicker over it before glancing away as though burned.

It was the long-awaited parade in honor of the Resistance victory against Star-Killer Base and the defeat of Supreme Leader Snoke. Against Leia and Rey's half-hearted objections, Poe and the other leaders of the Resistance were eager to broadcast Kylo Ren's involvement and sow dissension among the ranks of the First Order.

A PR campaign across the sectors friendly with the Resistance was their means of lighting the spark... which was how they found themselves on the Outer Rim planet of Yavin 4. It had long been a Republic/Resistance stronghold since the days of the Rebellion but wasn't large enough or central enough to have warranted the destruction wreaked by Star-Killer Base.

It was true that part of this had been Rey's idea. Defeating the First Order meant drawing support away from them, she'd argued. But, as Leia had pointed out, they also needed to show the Galaxy that the Resistance had not only survived, but would endure. Leia had insisted that as the closest thing to a Jedi they had, Rey should be front and center in their recruitment efforts.

"But I don't even have a lightsaber anymore," she'd pointed out.

"I'm sure you'll figure something out," had been Leia's cryptic response.

For the parade, Rey wielded her staff and tried not to look intimidated with so many eyes on her. The flowing tunic she wore was grey and beige and reminded her heavily of the old outfit she'd fashioned for herself on Jakku. But it just felt too clean and new. Unnatural. Rose had told her not to worry however- that she looked like a Jedi.

Whatever that meant.

{The only comparison Rey had was with Luke Skywalker, and she didn't think she could pull off his beard. Finn had laughed at that and reassured her, "I agree with Rose. You look fierce, definitely the image of a Jedi. Well, at least I think- I was brainwashed to believe Jedi were brain-sucking space slugs, and you definitely don't look like one of those."

Rey nodded noncommittally. Poe appeared at her side with BB-8 rolling up beside him. "What's this about space slugs?" He asked while adjusting his new commander's uniform. It looked good but a little stiff, just like hers. He pulled uncomfortably at the collar.

Rose grinned at him while pointing to Rey, "She's worried about not looking like a Jedi out there. I told her she looks great. What do _you_ think?" Her question startled both Finn and Poe. Rey felt an overwhelming need to hide under something.

"I'm not...

"I think Rey would look like a Jedi in anything," Poe interjected easily. Finn glanced between them for a second before nodding along in encouragement.

BB-8 chimed in, chirping something quietly that Rey didn't catch. Poe fingered a chain at his neck before responding quietly, "No, bud. That's not a Jedi thing." The end of the chain was hidden under the pilot's shirt. Rey couldn't recall if she'd noticed it before or not.

"Dude, why's your neck always so red?" Poe shot Finn a pointed look and the former stormtrooper cleared his throat. "Right. I think it's time to go," he gestured to their awaiting float. Rose grabbed his arm and they began walking towards it. Finn looked back at Rey, his expression indiscernible.

"Shall we, General?" Poe offered his arm to her with an exaggerated flourish.

She looked at it as though it were an offending Jawa. "Are you trying to butter me up? What happened to _kid_?" she asked suspiciously before finally taking his arm.

"Well, you still are, naturally. But in this case, I believe it's protocol. During the Clone Wars when the Republic was still around, Jedi Knights and Masters held the rank of General. I guess I could call you 'General Kid' but people would probably start to talk." He waggled his eyebrows, a ridiculous grin plastered across his face.

She wrinkled her nose. "I'd prefer not. And I never finished my training so I'm not technically a Knight." _And Luke was gone so she never would be._ "…I'm definitely not a Master." She thought of the books she'd stolen from inside the hollowed Uneti tree on Ahch-to. They were all she had left.

Poe tapped his elbow lightly against her. "You're close enough." His face was near her own, his gaze honest.

"Okay," she whispered absently as they stepped onto the platform.}

"I know!" Poe announced like he'd come across some great revelation, his voice snapping her from her thoughts. He was still cheerfully waving, his confident smile lighting up their entire float, and probably the whole Yavin system. "Why don't you do some fancy flips and stuff for the crowd?"

She made a face. "I'm not a circus Kowa. Why don't you?"

"Because I can't 'Force flip someone into space' as you've so rightly pointed out. And also, are you sure? Being a monkey-lizard would explain a lot of your weirdness."

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, she instead heaved a beleaguered sigh and stepped to the edge of the platform. Twirling her staff like a baton, she gathered herself and then suddenly executed a backward somersault over Poe. From her vantage directly above, she saw him clearly for a brief second. His eyes were filled with the same sort of awe she'd seen on Crait, when she'd lifted the boulders and freed them. The slightest gasp escaped his thinly parted lips as she landed neatly behind him and she smiled.

Then Finn whooped, running enthusiastically towards her so Rey flipped over him as well and soon everyone was putting on a mock battle for the crowd. They pretended to shoot and parry with Rey and she would do an exaggerated jump, spin, and flip combo around and over them. The crowd was oohing and ahhing as she went higher and higher and Rey could feel the Force humming in her veins, in the very energy of the air as she moved through it.

But a sudden chill cut her down. The sweet balanced gold of the energy turned black and void.

She felt her body smack hard against the platform and crash into someone, but none of that mattered.

"I thought I'd made myself clear?" Her voice ground out into the darkness until he emerged from it.

" _A door once opened may be stepped through in either direction. You're as much to blame for this as I_."

"And why does your shirt always seem to be off every time we open this particular door?"

Kylo Ren smirked, his wide mouth quirking up in a way that Rey found unsettling. " _Search your feelings_." His sarcasm was not lost on her, but his dark gaze was expectant, uncharacteristically patient.

She relented, curiously gazing up at him. A towel was haphazardly thrown over his still damp shoulders, droplets of water rolling down the pale expanse of his bare torso. She followed their arduously slow path down the lean, well-defined muscles of his chest, past the hard, flat planes of his stomach and lost sight of them somewhere beneath the tight black breeches he wore.

She cleared her throat and his smirk seemed to stretch. In that moment, his peculiar face resembled that of a Geonosian Nexu, whose wide, tooth-filled maw was capable of biting a grown man in half. "They tell me not to trust you, especially as you're now the Supreme Leader of a group determined to enslave and kill billions. You betrayed and murdered your own Master!"

" _To save you_ ," he reminded her quietly, a faint edge of annoyance lacing his words.

"I had thought I could change you." The murmur was soft as it escaped her tongue. It was both a complaint and a prayer, whispered to the air through the Force, half a galaxy away.

"REY!?" It was Finn's calling out to her, a thread from which to grasp and cling to.

"You can't change stupid, Rey!" Poe was also apparently there, somewhere beyond the cocoon of their linked minds.

" _So these are the men you side with_?" Kylo was looking past her now, his eyes narrowed dangerously. " _I've already ripped the smug pilot's mind in half and ripped the turncoat's back. There was nothing of interest inside either of them. They're nothing. Do they know their precious Jedi is a no one as well_?"

"I'm...

" _You're nothing_." A pang went through her once more at the familiar words but he softly went on, " _But to me, you could be everything. Join me, and I can hone your abilities. We can reshape the Empire_." She remained silent. " _Refuse, and I promise that when I hunt you down, your precious Resistance rats will be the first to die_."

Her jaw clenched. "Everyone is someone. And until you can value that, there can be no alliance between us."

"Ask him how he's enjoying the riots now they know he killed their leader!" Poe called jauntily.

With a feral snarl, Kylo reached for his corrupted lightsaber. Unsure of his limitations through their link, Rey quickly stretched out a hand, calling to the Force. It pushed the dark Jedi back roughly and pulled her away, severing their connection.

She blinked dazedly at the bright sunlight, felt her head in someone's lap. Poe and Finn's concerned faces were hovering over hers.

"So I take it he misses me?" Poe asked blithely, his heavily lidded eyes at odds with his tone as they carefully scanned her face.

"I believe he wanted very much to kill you."

"Well that's rude."

"Guys," Rose cut in, and Rey realized it was the small mechanic whose lap she was currently cradled in, "We still have an audience and they're kind of quiet." She was right. The crowds and everyone on the float were silent, watching the four of them with muted interest. Rey singled out a small blonde girl with pigtails below them who was worriedly cradling a stuffed Wookiee doll to her chest. "Okay, on the count of three, everyone help me throw her as high into the air as possible," Rose was saying to the other two who eagerly nodded along.

Clearly she'd missed something. "Umm... wha...? AHHH!" She yelped as Finn, Poe, and Rose did indeed grab her up and throw her skyward. She didn't go all that high but caught onto Rose's plan and used the Force to launch herself another twenty feet. On her decent, she twirled and flipped and then slowed herself as she heard the crowd gasping. Landing impressively on one knee, she raised both arms dramatically and everyone on the float cheered and jumped, rushing towards her. She was hoisted on top of Poe and Finn's shoulders and the crowd went wild.

"I say this worked out pretty well," Poe said, winking up at her. His arm squeezed around her leg slightly.

Rey shook her head at him and turned to the mechanic who was almost hidden behind the others, she was so short. "It was a good idea Rose, come on! This will complete it," Rey reached down and Force pulled the smaller woman up and helped her climb onto Rey's shoulders, so she was standing on the top of their own pyramid. And that was how they reached the ancient Temple of Massassi.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I really don't own anything. Except the space rot that fills my brain.

Author's note: As usual, the credit for the titles goes to _Firefly_. Also, I'm genuinely trying to strike the same irreverent, humorous tone I'd used in my Buffy/Star Wars crossover and find myself failing miserably. These characters want to be fluffy, like all the time, and I can't seem to stop.

 **Chapter 3** **:** **We sniff the Air, We don't kiss the Dirt**

" _Where are you from_?" Luke's voice whispered through the breeze. The green and gold leaves on the chromatic trees stirred slightly, the only evidence Rey had that she wasn't completely alone. She studied the odd bark for a moment, marveling at the metallic purple exterior layered with roughened rings. The forest was ancient, thousands of years old. But perhaps not all of it. The grove on the edge of the waterfall she sat amongst looked taller than the trees across the lagoon.

Further up, a jungled peak sprang from the sea of green. The actual planet of Yavin, a monstrous red gas-giant that this moon orbited, loomed large over the peak like she could reach out and touch it. The trees at the peak's base were oddly stunted. When she ran her hand lightly over the warm grain of the purple bark, she felt a jolt, saw fire and falling destroyers. She quickly withdrew and found herself breathing hard.

Poe had taken Finn, Rose, and herself on a tour of the growing colony and its surroundings on Yavin 4. Rey had been slightly overwhelmed after the awards ceremony inside the Great Temple. She had a growing suspicion that the pilot had seen the panic in her eyes when he'd suggested they get out of there. The Resistance, small as it was, usually remained regimented to barracks on base when they were planet-side but with their recent losses, Leia had ordered a brief respite for the survivors. They were essentially on leave, if she understood the jargon correctly.

She'd come to learn that this had been where Poe was from. She looked around at the shades of emerald, jade, and rich velvet green that blanketed the horizon. It was about as removed from the sands of Jakku as a place could get; short of a water-world perhaps. She idly wondered whether the desolate island temple on Ahch-to had been the only landmass on that planet. It was odd to think about. All she could ever see when she thought long enough was sand. She could see the dunes now, her eyes layering them over the rain forest. Sand had its own sort of beauty. It was an ocean you could walk across, shifting and sparkling. And it could drown you just as well, its surface immutable.

The trees re-emerged in her vision as she heard Rose shriek with laughter. Rey broke her meditative stance to lean over the mossy outcropping she sat upon and look down at the lagoon. Rose was stirring up the water as she gleefully ducked Finn's half-hearted lunge. The former stormtrooper's face was sopping, as though he'd just been splashed. A nearby Piranha Beetle buzzed its annoyance at the disturbed water, whose algae was giving off a florescent blue-green glow in the evening light.

While the others had eagerly stripped down to their undergarments and dived after Poe when he'd shown them the isolated lagoon, Rey had wandered off. She didn't know why, but the Force- that always present pull that she'd never had a name for until recently- was calling to her here, in this grove. It had nothing to do with the obvious delight on Rose's face as the mechanic was finally cornered by Finn. Vicious tickling ensued, and the small woman's laughter peeled out like blaster fire to Rey's ears. She leaned back, the lagoon disappearing below her as her gaze shifted skyward, the emerging stars and colossal gas-giant filling her vision.

"That was always my favorite pastime." She turned to find Poe, the algae-laden water of the lagoon giving him a slight air of luminosity. He was looking at the stars as well, but glanced down for a moment, his eyes warm. The grin he flashed her was slight, but very different from any of the others she'd seen. And she'd somehow remembered those he'd bestowed on Lieutenant Connix and Poe's pilot friend, Jessika Pava. They were the big and glitzy sort, the kind that got you an extra ration at Niima- or a giggle from a pretty girl in Poe's case. They were very unlike the almost nervous way he was currently looking at her. She'd call it shy if she'd had more experience with it.

Her cheeks suddenly felt a little warm and she found herself very interested in her hand. His wet hair was dripping on the moss near it, leaving tiny glowing droplets scattered across the uncovered parts of the rock.

He'd slicked his hair back, likely to get it out of his face, or maybe he knew how nice it looked like that… She could never tell with Poe. She stole a quick peek at his jacketless chest, his white undertunic opened generously at the collar, dark hair peeking out from underneath. The soaked fabric left little to the imagination, the lines of his arms and muscles seeming more pronounced than if he had indeed taken off his shirt as Finn had. The silver chain she'd glimpsed before was now fully exposed. A simple iron band hung from the end of it, settled neatly just above his heart. It was notched and scratched in a way that vaguely reminded Rey of Yavin 4's unique trees.

She wrenched her gaze away from the weighty metal. Whosever it had been, it was not her place to ask. "What was?" she asked of his pastime, filling the space between them.

"Refusing to stay grounded." He took a seat beside her, and pointed towards the peak she'd been staring at. "In fact, that's actually 'Skygazer Hill'. Not much of a hill but it was a hell of a battle when the Republic put down one of the Empire's last flotilla's there. My mother flew that mission…"

Rey wondered if Yavin 4 had scavengers like her, eager to pick apart the carcass of a Star Destroyer. Through the Force, she'd seen the falling ships, heard the splinter of the forest as it burned under the weight of the Empire's death. "She was a pilot too?" she asked curiously. His abundant charisma seemed to fade as he gave a slow nod. Quickly understanding, Rey averted her attention to the bioluminescent orchids that were beginning to bloom nearby as night fell. …Droids were so much easier to talk to.

The orchids were glowing white at the center with some containing blue or pink florescent edged petals. After what seemed entire lunar cycles, Poe finally broke the awkward silence, nudging her in the side. She was about to nudge him back when she saw the flower in his hand. It was glowing like the others, but had a silver rim and a bright amber light shimmering along its delicate veins. "This little guy belongs to you, I believe." His lip quirked up slightly at one side, and she knew her face must have looked ridiculous.

"Why?" She winced at the accusation in her voice, but he didn't seem to mind.

"Because it's odd like you."

"You keep calling me odd and weird. It's not the most flattering ploy."

He leaned in slightly, his tone conspiratorial. "And what ploy is that?"

She blanched. "Umm…" Was he playing with her? "Never mind…" she murmured, embarrassed at her own lack of experience in this regard.

There was more splashing below them. "Why didn't you want to join us?" Poe was giving her a curious side-look. "Are you jealous of Rose?"

Rey jumped up from her seat, her hands before her as though to ward off a great evil. "NO!" She backed a bit away from him, her heel on the edge of the rock, the lagoon directly below her. "Why would you even say that?"

He looked amused at her response. "Easy there General," he chuckled. "I know Finn and you are close. You were his first thought when he got out of his coma."

"Oh…" was all she could think to say. Finn was the first real friend she'd ever had. He'd been alone like she'd been and together, they'd made something more. It was true that perhaps she had been a little jealous of Rose monopolizing his time. But Poe was suggesting more. She wasn't sure if there was more than that, so she finally said- as calmly as she could muster, "No, nothing like that. I just can't swim is all." A twisted truth was not the same as a lie, she told herself.

He didn't seem convinced, but let it slide. "Well, there's no reason you can't learn." She glared, threatening to hurt him if he pushed her over the edge, but he raised his arms, placating, "I wouldn't do that. Swimming is supposed to be fun. Come on, I'll prove it to you." He grabbed her hand, pulling her reluctantly down from the ledge. Secretly, she rather liked the way his warm palm felt, wrapped around her own. It was comforting, and over far too soon as they came to the glowing surface of the lagoon.

She hesitantly took off her outer layer and waded in behind him. Rose and Finn looked up and swam over, smiling. "You finally decided to join us!"

Finn grabbed her arm, steadying her. "Is this your first time in water?"

She rolled her eyes. "I _have_ taken baths before, thank you."

"So the permanent grease stains are more of a statement?" Poe teased.

"You know what I meant," Finn said as he heaved a splash at the pilot. Poe attempted to dodge but ended up with a mouth-full of glowing algae water. He sputtered it out slowly, his eyes narrowing as a wicked grin formed.

Swimming, as in dodging, diving, Force splashing, and floating, was exceptionally fun. They'd all taken turns dousing the pilot so that he probably wouldn't stop glowing for another week or so. They'd air dried in their wet clothes as Poe's speeder glided through the jungle path back towards the Temple of Massassi and the colony beyond it. It was impossible to miss, looming nearly as large as the planet of Yavin on the horizon.

Rey stared at it as she leaned back in her seat, enjoying the warm breeze and the banter of her companions. The scenery was a mix of those odd trees, the occasional swamp, and more bodies of water than probably existed in the entire Jakku system. And everywhere, the luminescent orchids bloomed and twinkled in the darkness, just like the stars above them.

For the first time since she was a little kid, Rey felt a happy warmth spread up from the center of her being. It was contentment but more…

Rose called out to Poe through the wind, "You're not as smooth in the water as you are in the sky, are you fly-boy?"

He looked mildly petulant and chewed his tongue for a second before responding, "I felt very ganged up on. And you don't know what you're talking about, _I'm always smooth_."

More than content, Rey realized that the feeling was a sense of belonging. Of a home with a family she'd thought she'd never feel again.

Torchlights and lanterns illuminated the stark blue-grey stones of the colony on Yavin 4. Everything in the town- the streets, temples, shops, fences, and even the homes, was built out of it. The stones fit together like jig-saw pieces, all perfectly cut but no two the exact same size and shape. The jungle pressed in and around the man-made stone structures, trees taller than the stepped platforms of the leveled colony gazing down at them like silent sentinels.

The Dameron House was one of the oldest in the colony, Poe had explained as he parked the speeder beside a modest one-story stone structure. There was a well in front that even included a matching blue-grey ladle and a purple-wooded overhang that read the family name. The metallic chrome of the Massassi wood reflected the mellow light of the lanterns strewn around the front yard on Shepard's hooks. An expansive stretch of untamed jungle lay just beyond the homestead, mysterious and murky thanks to the curling smoke that wafted charmingly from a small chimney. Rey had never seen such a pleasant sight.

An older man, perhaps in his sixties, emerged from the warm yellow light of the doorway. He had a neatly trimmed gray beard and curly black hair that fell just past his ears. A wide smile was spread across his weathered face, with wrinkles around his dark eyes. He and Poe ran to one another, hugging fiercely, and Rey could see tears sliding down the man's face as he gripped his son.

Rey, Finn, and Rose stood back awkwardly for a moment until Poe finally pulled away and ushered them forward. "Don't just stand there like a barrel of Woolamanders!" he called brokenly, his voice pitching and yawing like an out of control cruiser. "This is my father, Kes Dameron," Poe introduced proudly, his arm slung around the older man. "And these are my friends- Rose is one of the best mechanics in the Resistance and a very intense pilot." Rose rolled her eyes at that as Finn winced, remembering Crait. "Finn was a former stormtrooper who rebelled and escaped from Phasma herself. He was the one who saved me when I was captured after the mission on Jakku." Kes Dameron looked to Finn with newfound respect, giving him a grateful nod and a firm handshake. "And this is Rey, our Jedi in training. She's saved us all." Rey felt exceptionally embarrassed at the praise but accepted the hand of Poe's father as he reached out.

Kes bent down and kissed her knuckles before laying his other hand gently over her own. "Thank you, my dear." His eyes, brown like his sons, twinkled from the tears still clinging there and suddenly, Rey felt a small lump forming in her throat. But if wishes were Volptices, they'd all be wearing crystal, or some horrid nursery rhyme like that… It wouldn't do to think of things she'd never have. And she wouldn't want to wear one of those beautiful creatures anyway.

She straightened and gave the older man a warm smile in return. "I wasn't alone."

Later, after they'd all been situated with sleeping bags around the snug living area with the fireplace merrily crackling along (more to keep the Piranha Beetles at bay than for warmth, she'd been told) Rey found herself being led outside by Poe. He'd promised a tour of the woods behind the house, but she immediately spotted his real goal. Amidst the tall chromatic Massassi trees, the gnarled and twisted adolescent Uneti stood out like a sore thumb. "Is that what I think it is?" she asked breathlessly, jogging over to it and kneeling, already spreading her palms flat against the ground near its roots.

"My ultimate ploy to lure you in," Poe joked as he shook his head at her enthusiasm.

"But how? I thought the last was destroyed on Ahch-to… I felt it burn, just I felt Luke's death."

"My mother had helped Master Skywalker retrieve the last two saplings from the Great Force Tree that had originally grown in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. He kept one and gave her the other. I grew up with this tree… Once, I accidentally singed it when I'd rigged up some podracer engines to my dad's old Koyo picker. It almost died, and he'd had a fit… I'd never seen him so angry. He forced me to nurse it back to health for nearly a year." He smiled faintly at the memory, staring intently at its white and amber bark for a moment before he turned back to her. "I grew up on legends of the great Jedi Master, of the power of the Force, and the living embodiment of it through this tree. I don't know how it all works, but I know that you were meant to be here, with it…" he grimaced, running a hand over his forehead and through his hair. "I'm going to go back in now and leave you to it before I can sound any lamer. Anyway, happy tree-sitting."

He began to walk away but Rey caught his hand. "You weren't wrong." Impulsively, she leaned forward and gave him a swift peck on the cheek before pulling away. "Thank you for this." But her excitement at what the tree could offer was briefly stalled by the way Poe's eyes widened and his eyebrows raised before he could school his features. It was the same look he'd given her on Crait once again, and she found it wildly distracting. He nodded back to her before she could say anything else though and quickly retreated inside.

Almost as soon as he was gone, she spun around and knelt again, positioning herself into a meditative stance. She felt for the energy of the Force, the perpetual cycle of life and death and the balance struck between all things. The tree hummed before her, a conduit for the stretching, grasping tendrils of her energy until she actually felt the tree move and opened her eyes.

"Impressively, it looks like you're not always wrong either, nowhere girl." A robed Luke Skywalker stood before the Uneti Tree, glowing like the moon's luminescent orchids, his blue eyes mischievously gleaming behind his wizened face. "It's time to learn yourself, who and what you are. It's time for the Jedi to begin again."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: On the Raggedy Edge**

Disclaimer: I really don't own anything. Except the space rot that fills my brain. Title and some of the dialogue comes from _Firefly/Serenity_.

Author's note: There were too many other things I wanted to do with this chapter so they're now bumped to later.

XXX

"Ouch!" Rey winced as the waterfall came crashing down. It was heavy and cold, and for a brief moment she saw Star Killer Base exploding all around her.

"Your connection to the Force is raw and deep. You'll drown in it if you can't learn to focus."

She grit her teeth, spitting some of the algae water in Luke's direction. It passed harmlessly through his incorporeal form and he shot her a glare- his default expression by this point. "Drowning doesn't seem so bad just now," she muttered. The thunderous roar of the waterfall dulled to a more manageable hum as she swam away from him.

Exhausted from the many hours they'd already spent training, Rey crawled, hands and knees onto the loamy white beach that bordered the lagoon. Gracelessly, she flopped down on her stomach, cheek buried deeply in the warm sand. Little pink crystals glittered amongst the grains, taunting her. "I'm trying my best." A puff of the white-pink sand clouded the air around her face.

Luke was suddenly beside her, his ability to quickly move without thought or sound becoming a creepy familiarity. "If that were the case, you'd have already discovered what you sought." He rubbed at his graying beard as though considering a particularly stubborn puzzle. Rey was honestly just as baffled by Luke, however. Why did he keep such a shabby appearance? He could look however he pleased as a ghost and she was rather certain he'd looked better than a sea hermit at one point or another. For all she knew, he could've appeared as a Porg if he'd wished! Then there was the actual mystery of him appearing only to her. He was training her. Believing in her- even though he refused to admit it. He hadn't even appeared to Leia yet- and the General had been sure to let her know. Luke went on, "Perhaps you have and you're just too inexperienced to realize what you've seen… Tell me again."

Unable to roll her eyes with them shoved into the delightful sand, she spoke out of the half of her mouth that wasn't currently being laid on, "There was a glowing light. And there were rays coming from it, perhaps a half dozen or so. It was beautiful and alone, blackness all around it."

"What shade was the light? Was there any color to it?"

"It was white…" She shut her eyes, trying to recall, "Perhaps silvery, with some gold liquid, as though it were melting." She sprang up, her strained muscles forgotten. "It's like the flower!"

"Come again?" Luke asked.

She grabbed her leather pack, untied the twine that held it together and dug inside. Finally, she found the wilted orchid Poe had given her the first time she'd been to the hidden lagoon on Yavin 4. It had been several weeks since then, and the moment felt like a lifetime ago since she'd discovered Luke Skywalker, as contrary and wise as he'd ever been in the flesh. The flower itself had weathered fairly well. Kes Dameron had shown her a special powder to sprinkle over it that preserved the petals.

Poe, Finn, and Rose had left on several missions as Rey stayed behind, training and meditating, training and meditating. Oh, and training some more. Occasionally, Luke let her sleep, but mostly she trained.

She held the flower aloft to her cranky Jedi Master, an offering to perhaps ward his spirit away for an hour of rest.

Instead of the desired effect, Luke bowed his head and sighed deeply. "Wrong again, nowhere girl. Your feelings cloud your judgement."

" _Excuse me_?" Rey was about at her limit. Luke Skywalker had to be the most bothersome curmudgeon to ever haunt the galaxy. "My feelings have nothing to do with it. This flower has the same colorings as the light in my vision _you_ keep insisting is so important."

"And who was the boy who gave you this gift? Does he have a secret stash of Ilum crystals hidden away? Forming attachments for a Jedi is not only distracting, it's dangerous. The Jedi Order certainly had its issues so I won't quote Master Yoda to you, but jealousy, possessiveness, fear, hatred, rage- these are all paths that will lead you down the dark side."

That place below the island. The cavern and the many reflections. The purgatory and the revelation. _The void._

"This dark side you keep spitting at holds no meaning I can't find within myself." In the end, it wasn't evil that lived at the bottom of that pit. It was her. She was connected to everything- he'd been the one to teach her that. The Force connected everything.

"You're not making me feel any less nervous about training you when you say things like that. Also, you didn't answer my question."

She felt irritation gnawing at her and realized it was a Piranha Beetle near her exposed ankle. She swatted it away. "He's a pilot and a Resistance Commander. We're not 'attached' as you say. He's fantastic and annoying and a bit too old for me…" she stared at the flower. "He's full of himself and enjoys going on suicide missions, but he cares deeply for his friends, and…"

"Oh my Force," Luke murmured, staring at her as though she were the ghost. "Don't tell me he has a furry companion and a leather jacket? Was he a smuggler at one point too?"

She rolled her eyes. "No. It's a small, rolling droid and a he gave the jacket to my friend, Finn."

"And this friend of your, Finn, is he by any chance related to you?"

"Umm… I don't think so…"

"You might want to check. Also, don't fall in love with bad boys and don't fall in love if you plan on being the Universe's only Jedi." From the ancient books she'd stolen, Rey knew of the Jedi Order's rules on romantic attachments. She also knew that Luke had willfully ignored them all when he'd trained a new generation of Jedi. It must have been like a slap in the face to him when Ben Solo had destroyed the school and everything he'd built.

His fear of her, or rather what she might become, would have been funny were it not so aggravating. "You know, I had no intention of doing that before. But now, since you've said something, it's going to happen. I hope you can live with the consequences."

He threw up his hands, robes flying all around. "Well I was going to show you the error of your ways. But now, I think I'll let you figure it out, _Rey."_

"I'm not the light in my vision! You're the one who's wrong!"

"Your name is literally 'Rey'."

She huffed and threw the pack over her shoulder. "I don't know how that answers anything. I'm just me. I'm not some mystical warrior, I'm not the Galaxy's only hope… I'm just some desert orphan."

"You'd be surprised. The Force always seems to have a soft spot for the likes of us." Easy for him to say. At least Luke had a family. He knew who his parents were and in the end, they had both loved him. By contrast, her parents had considered liquor and podracing more valuable than their daughter.

Rey sighed, sick of wasting any more time thinking about their faceless memories, and began trudging back to the Dameron family speeder she'd borrowed. She didn't bother facing the Jedi Master as she responded- after all, Luke could probably hear her in space. "If by soft spot, you mean the Force has given us lonely lives of meditation and the torment of always trying to find a ridiculous balance that does not exist, then yes. But the only thing that would actually surprise me at this point is if you stopped being so cryptic. And I still think you're the one who's wrong."

His ghost disappeared behind her, fading out as his words carried along the breeze through the branches overhead, " _Perhaps I was_ …"

XXX

Rey was slightly confused when she arrived back at the Dameron homestead. Kes usually came out to greet her when she arrived home, his tired eyes brightening when he saw her. Rey found his presence comforting and she liked listening to his stories of the old rebellion as they would cover the speeder and put it away at night.

On this particular evening, Kes was nowhere to be found so she did the task herself. Cautiously making her way to the door, she spied a single light and finally heard voices coming from the back.

"How could you have been so stupid?" It was the elder Dameron's voice, his tone reproachful.

"I didn't have all the information. I… I thought I was doing the right thing."

It was Poe! Last she'd heard, he wouldn't be back for another rotation.

"You thought you'd be the big hero. Heroes get other people killed along with themselves."

Rey peered around the corner and saw Poe lower his eyes, studiously avoiding his father's gaze as shame colored his tell-tale neck. "I was trying to save them all."

Kes shook his head. "Do you want to leave me like your mother? Do you want to go as she did?" Dismay laced his words so tightly, she could almost see it coiling through the Force, looping hurt and sorrow around the father and son like rope.

Poe glanced up, his features slumped piteously, and then ducked his head again and Rey jolted, suddenly realizing that this was all her doing. She'd been talking with Kes and had recounted the adventures leading them to Yavin 4. He'd probably had no idea that Poe had led the mutiny that led to so many from the Resistance dying before survivors had made it to Crait. She regretted saying anything. She'd heard it second-hand and even if it were all true, it was up to Poe if he wanted to share it with his father.

Rey slowly stepped out from the doorway, giving a small wave as father and son looked up. "Um, hello there. Sorry to interrupt." She gave a wide, unconvincing smile to Poe. "Didn't know you'd be back so soon."

Kes stepped back, waving a hand dismissively. "Please, Rey, you have been my most treasured guest. It's no trouble." He glanced towards his son, who was looking almost sick by this point. "Poe and I can continue this later." He laid his hand over the pilot's shoulder, pulling him close as he said in a gentler tone, "Your recklessness will be the end of me one day. And who knows? I worry any harder, my good-looks may even go. But you are my heart."

Poe swallowed. "I'm sorry dad, I love you too. We'll talk soon."

Once outside, Poe sighed, shutting his eyes. The lanterns were sparking to life of their own accord, faint evening light and the artificial variety bathing the pilot's skin in a warm glow. He seemed to be relaxing.

Feeling guilty, she tentatively nudged him. "Hey old man," she said quietly.

His eyes lit up a bit. "Hey general," he whispered back, his usual playfulness resurfacing as he nudged her back.

She huffed in mock indignation, an eyebrow raised challengingly. "You know I wish you'd stop calling me that. Why don't you ever just use my name?"

"You wouldn't be able to handle it," he deadpanned.

She couldn't help herself- she giggled. It came out girlish and weird and she stifled herself as soon as she could. "You know your dad found out because of me. I'm sorry about that."

"Just so long as you don't think I'm the biggest idiot show-off in the Universe, we're good."

"What about in the Galaxy?"

"I can work with that."


End file.
